Real time or near real time adjustment of percussion instruments is difficult due to the multitude of adjustments which need to be performed to obtain a desired acoustical characteristic and/or attenuate an undesirable acoustical characteristic. For example, modem drum sets include multiple adjustment points periodically disposed around the cylinder forming the drum housing. The adjustment points allow a musician to adjust the tension of the drum membrane in a two dimensional plane. Adjustment of the tension placed on the drum membrane is generally performed by trial and error by alternately tightening and/or loosening one or more set of adjustment points until the desired acoustical characteristic is obtained. In another example, cymbals are typically suspended from an axial mount which traverses the geometric center of the instruments. One or more axial adjustment points are included to control the length of vibration when the cymbals are struck. The adjustment points allow the musician to dampen or mute excessive ringing and/or amplitude of a particular acoustical characteristic. Likewise, the tuning process is often iterative and time consuming which requires repeated trial and error to obtain the desired acoustical characteristic. In both situations, adjustment of these percussion instruments necessarily is limited to before or after a performance. A musician cannot adjust the acoustical characteristics during a performance. Therefore, a mechanism which allows a musician to vary the acoustical characteristics during a performance and/or simplifies the tuning process would be a highly desirable feature currently lacking in the relevant art.